Elsevier Tools, Techniques and Protocols for Monitoring Environmental Contaminants

Tools, Techniques and Protocols for Monitoring Environmental Contaminants describes information on the strategic integration of available monitoring methods with molecular techniques, with a focus on omics (DNA, RNA and protein based) and molecular imprinted polymer and nanomaterial based advanced biosensors for environmental applications. It discusses the most commonly practiced analytic techniques, such as HPLC, MS, GCMS and traditional biosensors, giving an overview of the benefits of advanced biosensors over commonly practiced methods in the rapid and reliable assessment of environmental contaminants. As environmental contaminants have become one of the serious concerns in terms of their rapid growth and monitoring in the environment, which is often limited due to costly and laborious methods, this book provides a comprehensive update on their removal, the challenges they create for environmental regulatory agencies, and their diverse effects on terrestrial and aquatic environments. Review Describes the rapid global developments in new monitoring methods using molecular techniques for detecting environmental contaminants About the Author Dr. S. K. Brar is Associate Professor at Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (Eau, Terre et Environnement, INRS-ETE), Québec, Canada. She graduated in Master’s in Organic Chemistry from National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India with Master’s in Technology in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Mumbai, India and a Ph.D. in Environmental Biotechnology from INRS, Quebec, Canada in 2007. After a short post-doctoral fellowship at McGill University, she started her career as Assistant Professor at INRS-ETE. She is leading the research group on the Bioprocessing and Nano-Enzyme Formulation Facility (BANEFF) at INRS-ETE. Her research interests lie in the development of finished products (formulations) of wastewater and wastewater sludge based value-added bioproducts, such as enzymes, organic acids, platform chemicals, biocontrol agents, biopesticides, butanol and biohydrogen. She is also interested in the fate of endocrine disrupter compounds, pharmaceuticals, nanoparticles and other toxic organic compounds during value-addition of wastewater and wastewater sludge in turn finding suitable biological detoxification technologies. The facility has so far led to the successful supervision of 20 PhD students, 6 Master’s students and 6 postdoctoral students. She has collaborative programmes with several industries in Canada and researchers from Argentina, Spain, Chile, Switzerland, France, Vietnam, China, USA, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Morocco, Tunisia and Ivory Coast. Dr. Brar is a recipient of the ASCE State-of-the-Art of Civil Engineering award (2007) for her article titled, "Bioremediation of Hazardous Wastes - A Review," which was published in the Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic & Radioactive Waste Management - Special issue on Bioremediation. She has also received the Rudolf gold medal (2008) for her originality of the article published in Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic & Radioactive Waste Management. Recently, in 2014, she has been elected as member of The College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada in recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership and outstanding performance in her field of environmental biotechnology. She was recently named as the “YWCA women in science excellence award. She is on the editorial board of Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology Journal and associate editor of Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste (ASCE). She has won several accolades throughout her professional career including the outstanding young scientist in India in 2002 (during her short stint at Defense Research and Development Organization) and several others. She has more than 230 researc